Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - The L.A. Galaxy is in its final week of preparation before leaving for La Manga Cup 2003, which marks the club's first ever preseason trip to Europe. The Galaxy will depart for the City of La Manga, Spain near Cartagena for the La Manga Cup this Friday, Feb. 14 for its first major action of the preseason. During the tournament, the Galaxy will match up in Group B against Lyn (Norway) on February. 18, Odd Grenland (Norway) on February 21 and Torpedo (Russia) on February 24. Joining the Galaxy in Spain will be fellow MLS club, the San Jose Earthquakes.
Motagua, the Honduran club that the L.A. Galaxy will face next month in the round of eight during the 2003 CONCACAF Champions Cup, tied 1-1 with Vida on Saturday in a Honduran First Division match. The match marked its fifth game with no decision in the Torneo Clausura (Closing Tournament). A nine-time league champion, Motagua has five points and sits in fifth place in the standings behind the leader, Olimpia (12 points). This weekend, Motagua will play for the first time in the current season in their home stadium, Tegucigalpa, against Olimpia in the "Derby" of the Hondurans soccer.
The L.A. Galaxy will play against Motagua in a two-leg, home-and-home series with dates and locations to be release soon. Motagua will host the opening leg with Los Angeles hosting the second leg. The Galaxy was drawn into series eight, meaning the winner of The Galaxy-Motagua series will take on the winner of series seven between Arnett Gardens FC (Jamaica) vs. CID Necaxa (Mexico). The 2003 Champions' Cup Round-of-16 matches are tentatively set for March 16 and 26. The quarterfinal matches are scheduled for April 9 and 16, while the semifinals will be held on April 30 and May 14. The finals will be played over two legs and are scheduled for August and September.
The Los Angeles Galaxy will participate in the inaugural World Peace King Cup tournament, which was introduced by soccer legend Pele on February 5 at a news conference in Seoul, South Korea. The tournament will be held July 15 through July 22 in Seoul, South Korea. A collection of the finest clubs from around the globe have been assembled for the tournament, including the L.A. Galaxy, Germany's Bayer Leverkusen, Italy's AS Roma, France's Olympique de Lyon, Holland's PSV Eindhoven, Brazil's Sao Paulo, South Africa's Kaizer Chiefs and South Korea's Seongnam Ilwha. The international field includes four teams from Europe, and one each from Africa, Asia, North America and South America. The World Peace King Cup, a biennial tournament, features eight (8) clubs from around the world divided into two (2) groups of four (4), to be established in a seeded draw. Each participating club will play three (3) games during the group stage, with the winners from each group advancing to meet in the Finals. The club, which captures the World Peace King Cup, wins a prize of $2,000,000 while the runners-up receive $500,000.
Officials from El Salvador and members of the Los Angeles Salvadoran community broke ground last Friday, February 7, 2003, on the Mauricio Cienfuegos Sports Complex. The complex is being built in Canton El Piche, one of the poorest provinces in El Salvador. The $77,279 facility will have soccer, baseball, track & field and will be used for other sports as well. The complex is expected to be finished in May 2003. Present at the ceremony were El Salvador's Vice-President Carlos Quintanilla Schmidt, as well as members of Los Angeles Comité El Piche, Enot Rubio and Enrique Alejo. El Piche helped raise more than $40,000 for this project, with assistance from the Galaxy, which will honor one of the most illustrious Salvadoran soccer players, Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos.
The L.A. Galaxy defeated Loyola Marymount University (LMU) this past Saturday in a closed-door scrimmage at the Rose Bowl. Returning midfielder Gavin Glinton led all scorers with two goals in the first half, finishing a pass from Cobi Jones and then dribbling the goalkeeper off a breakaway for his second. Not to be left out, Ezra Hendrickson contributed one of his own to give L.A. a 3-0 advantage at half time. In the second half, Chris Albright rounded out the scoring putting away a corner kick.
INJURY REPORT: Jones -- Hip Flexor Strain (Left) -- Day-to-Day Lewis -- Sport Hernia -- Out 5-7 wks Moreno -- Hamstring Strain (Right) -- Day-to-Day
